Hunter jogs down the drive just as Winter and I walk back over to Liam and Lulu. He gives Liam a hug and kisses my cheek.
“Liam, can you help Winter and me out and try on your suit to make sure it fits?”
“Sure.” Liam turns to Lulu. “Would you like Haley to take you to the barn and show you the horses?”
Lulu squeals. “Yesh.”
“Lulu would live at the barn if she could,” Hunter says with a smile.
Liam kisses her before putting her down. She takes my hand.
“Let’s go, Haley.”
I could get used to this.
Hanging out with Liam and Lulu. Being a part of their inner circle.
I fight the lump in my throat as Lulu and I both wave to Liam before heading to the barn.
* * *
Lulu loves the horses. She insists on going to each stall so I can tell her the name of every horse.
“Did Mia introduce you to all the horses?”
“Not all.”
“You want to see more?”
Another nod.
“Okay.” I keep her hand in mine. “Not all the horses want to be petted, so let’s find the ones who do.”
She shrieks with joy at the horse in stall one.
“Vanilla Bean is super calm,” I say. “She loves kids.”
After going through the front of the barn, I take her around to where the ponies are.
She pets each of them in turn, and then she wanders around the corner.
“Wait, Lulu!” I hurry after her just in time to see her run into an empty stall and start jumping up and down in the hay filling the back of the stall.
“Yay!” Lulu sinks down in the hay and laughs.
I step into the stall to pick her up, but when I reach for her, I stumble.
Suddenly, I’m sitting in the mountain of hay with a little girl who’s looking at me like I planned this adventure. And that scores me major points.
“Can we play more?”
One look at those blue eyes and I feel like I’d give her anything.
“We’ll play for five minutes, and then we should get back. Your daddy will be waiting for us.”
“Okay,” she says happily.
* * *
